Any of y’all keep Bees?

Giving it a try, we got 4 hives started last weekend.

Did it for over 10 years. Finally threw in the towel when the neighbors fogged their yard for mosquitoes and killed off all of my hives.

They must be making a comeback. My daughter has a swarm in the siding of her house near Mobile and can't find anyone who wants to get them.

We have bees. My best advice is leave them alone and get a plan in place for mites and beetles. Are you starting from packages, nucs, or swarms?

We have a few beehives. We catch some swarms but dont even try to get all of them. I believeeven adding the swarms we miss back to the wild bee population is doing a great service to nature around here.

The cabin on my lease is same way. It’s probably 20 ft from the ground and you’d have to get to them from the 2nd floor loft. Can’t find anyone around here either.

We have bees. It’s a pretty busy hobby. Good luck.

Plenty of guys around here I’m sure would be happy to get them. If she has Facebook there is a local swarm page where she can post the info.

Yes…beekeepers are happy to get a swarm from February to May. After that, the swarm would have to be fed to be kept alive.

There is a MAJOR difference between a swarm and an established hive in a wall or eave.
What they have is a “hive” in the wall. It’s almost impossible to save the bees and remove the comb…and if not repaired with insulation or something similar, another swarm will make a home there next year or two.

I can’t tell y’all how many folks would call and say “I’ve got a swarm of bees in a wall. You can come get the bees, and I’ll split the honey with you.

My response, “How about you enjoy your bees until you’re ready to pay someone to get them out..and I’ll enjoy my sweet tea and enjoy my day?”.

What they don’t know, is the beekeeper is essentially attacking the bees “home” and the bees are fighting for their lives.
A true “swarm” of bees, is a group of bees that have split off from the hive and looking for a new home…and you can literally rake them easily into a box, and the bees will willingly go in and accept the new home.

I had bees for years, and for a while did bee removal from walls.
$250 plus $75 per hour wasn’t an unreasonable amount ten years ago. I have no clue what the price of bee removal from walls would be now, but I doubt it’s gone down.

I will add that i think beekeeping is very relaxing. You can control how much work it is by the number of hives you have. 3-5 hives is just not a lot of work and will produce more honey than you would think. Since you in NW Alabama you can get your equipment from Zook or his brother in law up in Lawrenceburg TN and save a lot of money. Plus it’s a nice day trip. Not sure if there is a bee club in your area but if so join it. Also don’t forget to register your hives with the state. We use a sharpie to mark our equipment and the state guys have always been fine with it. Great hobby very rewarding. Can be addictive and that will take the fun out of it.

Several people due cutouts on daily basis with a few of them being almost free if the homeowner completes the repairs.

In NW Bama and know where a swarm is that needs relocated or exterminated asap. Pm me if anyone is interested or has any contacts on who to get rid of them…

Thanks, I'll tell her. I know they have put it on FB, but may not know about that page.

We bought our colonies from a local guy that is downsizing. He sold us 4 - 8 frame hives and we placed them in our new 10 frame boxes, hopefully that will put us a little ahead of the curve and we can at least make a little honey this year.

We have already made a trip up to Lawrenceburg and bought boxes and a little equipment from Mr Zook.

Swarm still there in mobile ?

As far as I know; you want them?

Enjoyed them for several frustrating years. Being 45 minutes away wasn’t good.

Beetles and mites were the enemy were hard to control and why I gave my stuff away to a good friend.

A friend with a cabin has another hive building under the joists (it is built on pilings). If anyone wants to come get them, you'd better hurry and let me know. He has a painter coming soon that is allergic so they have to be gone before then. This is Dallas County. Let me know if interested and I'll get ya'll in touch. Like last time, it will involve some deconstruction and then reconstruction but he was able to avoid anything major last time because whoever got them sucked them out with something.

I have 8 hives , lots of work but fun.